Kyle moved as fast as his throbbing head allowed. His vision was hazy and his legs felt like lead, but he couldn't abandon the search. The only thing what could stop him was his head literally exploding.
He reached out his hands, trying to prevent bumping into anything. The trees swayed in front of him, making it hard to appreciate distances correctly.
The pressure on his temples made him wince, and with each step, the surroundings became murkier. It's just the clouds. It's about to rain. Denial was the strongest weapon he had. If he'd give in to the trance now, he'd never reach Kay in time to save her. She was like a beacon, helping him move forward. And through the darkness in his mind, she was the only thing he could see.
"Help me," she whispered.
The surrounding blackness echoed his heartbeat and his heavy breathing. He tried to talk, assure her that he was coming, he wasn't going to give up on her, but he couldn't. It was as if the words froze in his throat. And as he realized that, he became aware that he wasn't moving anymore.
His body floated in nothingness with only the echoing sound of dripping water for company. Cold chilled him to the bone and he wondered if he was in a cave of some sort. This was the weirdest trance ever. He couldn't remember ever being conscious through one before.
The freezing sensation intensified, bringing with it a sense of panic. He would have flinched if he could move. He couldn't hear his breathing or the beating of his heart anymore.
I'm dying. The emptiness smothered his thoughts. No! Kay. He couldn't die, leave her now when she needed him. He wouldn't go down without a fight. Something hot filled his veins.
"No!" he screamed, bolting up. It was a relief to hear himself panting. That was the freakiest dream ever.
"Hmmm, what do you know? You live."
Kyle flinched and turned in the direction of the low, snide voice. It was dark outside, but he could make out the outline of a tall, broad man wearing a cloak which irradiated weakly, as if it were glow-in-the-dark. He stood with his back to him, in front of a makeshift table, meddling with what sounded like glass flasks. Kyle looked down at the palm tree leafs made into some sort of bed. His head was still hazy.
"Yes, apparently this works," the man muttered. "The effects should be permanent. I only hope it was worth it."
"What happened? Who are you?" Kyle asked, wanting to stand, but a huge pang in his head brought him back to sitting position.
"Special as you may be, you still need some time to pull yourself together." The man sneered.
Kyle rubbed his temples. One of his arms hurt too. He looked at it and noticed a small red spot on the inside of his elbow. A needle point mark, no doubt about it. "What did you do to me?"
"Aaah, a much more interesting question." The man turned around, but the hood of his cloak was pulled so deep over his face, it was impossible to tell what he looked like. "I saved your life. You were about to die."
The cold in his trance suddenly caught new meaning. Kyle stared at the man. "Why?"
The stranger chuckled. "You're a good conversation partner. You ask the right questions." He searched the table and raised a flask containing a greenish substance. "This runs through your veins. Courtesy of your father. Whether he was trying to kill you or save your life, I'm not sure. It's what makes you unusually strong. And what should make you crazy. But you seem immune to that precise side effect."
"How do you know all that? And if that's in me..." Kyle pointed to the flask. "How'd you get it out?"
"Fun, fun, fun." The man rubbed his hands. "I know loads more about you than you think. But I'm not sharing the hows and the whys. I didn't get this out of you." He shook the flask, making the potion whirl around inside. "This is my own sample."
"Don't strain yourself." The man said, moving on the other side of the table as if to put something between them.
Kyle stared at him, trying to tell if he'd ever seen him before. Even if there was something familiar about him, he couldn't put his finger on it. Yet, this stranger seemed to know so much about him – more than he did. "Do you know why I have trances?"
"Had." The man began to gather his flasks, stashing them inside his robes. He wore gloves. "Thanks to the antidote for the side effects I gave you, you shouldn't have them anymore. I'm guessing they were caused by huge emotional strain. The potion addled your mind. Which brings me to my next point." The stranger's tone changed dramatically, from smug and snide to brisk and business-like. "Do you have a map?"
Kyle grabbed his backpack from the roots of a nearby tree and took out a map of the areas they'd explored. The man spread it over the makeshift table and bent low over it, to make sure his face wouldn't come into view.
"You should hurry. You've already lost a couple of hours while conveniently taking a nap." He pointed to a spot on the map. "This is where you are. The place you seek is here. I'll give you a hint. There's a hidden entrance in the rock wall. Get in through there. It will shorten your journey by about an hour."
Kyle grabbed the map, folded it and stuck it in the side pocket of his backpack, his mind twirling with the news. What was happening was almost impossible, but he had no time to dwell on it. He had to get to Kay and save her. Except...
"How do I know you're not leading me into a trap?"
The man sneered. "You're already willingly walking into a trap. Life is a series of choices, kiddo. You either choose to trust me or you don't."
It was that easy. And it wasn't like he had a ton of options.
"Thanks." Kyle put his backpack on.
"Hurry." The man waved him on. "There's no time to lose."
Kyle stepped away, but changed his mind and wheeled around. "Who are you?"
The stranger shook his hooded head then let out a condescending laugh. "Your Deus ex machina to the rescue."
"Why are you helping me?"
The man raised one gloved hand and stuck it under his hood as though to touch his chin. "You know what? Even I don't know that yet."
Biting back more questions, Kyle turned his back on the man and rushed towards Snitch Gravel's main base.
*
Jimmy reached out his arm. Jessie bumped against it and stumbled back.
"Something's wrong," he said, straining to hear better. They'd almost reached camp when the feeling hit him. He didn't know how, but the sense of danger was crystal clear.
"I'll say," Jessie mumbled. "That hurt. Warn me next time you're about to fling a hit at my boobs."
As much as he tried, he couldn't hear anything out of place. The wind made sure of that. A loud rumble filled the air around them, announcing a storm.
"Jimmy, what are you doing?"
"Something's wrong with Jerry." He stared at Jessie, unable to believe what had just come out of his mouth. But as soon as it was out, he knew it was true.
He went around the trap and rushed towards camp, Jessie hot on his trail. They stopped once they reached the first tent. Jimmy crouched behind it and pulled Jessie down, too. He peeked around it, but camp seemed deserted.
"Jessie, stay here."
"What? No!" She stood, trying to push past him and go into the open.
Jimmy grabbed her arm and yanked her back. "I have a bad feeling about this. If I'm wrong, I'll come get you."
"No." Jessie scowled and pulled her hand out of his grip. "You might need my help."
"I know. If we both get in trouble, who's gonna save my butt?" He smiled halfheartedly.
Jessie looked away, biting her lip. "Fine, but if you're not back in two minutes, I'm coming after you."
Jimmy hurried away before she could change her mind. God, that girl was stubborn. And he unexpectedly found that very attractive.
He quickly made his way towards the river. As the trees thinned, he could spot Tina, Alice and Christine huddled up together. Angie stood in front of them, her fists raised. Jimmy took a couple more steps and Jerry came into view. He was further along the river, his arms stretched out, staring at three men.
Jimmy frowned as his mind made calculation. Jerry was a few feet away from the trap they'd placed on that side of the camp. The three were just beyond it. Why three men were there was beyond him, but that wasn't what mattered.
"Jerry!" he called out.
Every eye turned to him. Alice shrieked and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. He hugged her waist with one arm, but otherwise ignored her. He had to do this right.
"Come on, you can still make it to the trees," he added.
Jerry frowned and shook his head. Jimmy waved his arm, motioning him to run towards him. Jerry hesitated for a few seconds then seemed to decide he trusted him enough to play along, so he sprinted towards him.
"Get him!" one of the men yelled, and the three of them chased after Jerry.
They took only a few steps when the ground swallowed them whole. One of them grabbed to the edge of the hole, his hands scraping the ground desperately.
"Why are three of you here?"
The men staggered to their feet, pulling at their clothes. Jimmy narrowed his eyes and shot in the air.
"Guns out and in the air. I need only one of you to answer questions."
The three hurried to take their weapons out. Jimmy motioned for them to lay them on the edge of the hole and they obeyed. Jerry came over and picked them up.
"Knives, too," Jimmy ordered. "I asked you a question."
The men mumbled something amongst themselves, then all looked up. "You weren't supposed to be here." One of them pointed at Jimmy. "The three of us would have been enough to deal with them." He nodded towards Jerry.
"And who was supposed to deal with us?" Jessie asked, appearing out of nowhere by Jimmy's side.
The men threw her nasty looks, but otherwise ignored her question.
Jimmy cocked the pistol. "The lady asked you a question."
"Eye Patch was supposed to come after you," another of the men burst out. "They left for the hut to intercept you. You were supposed to be dead by now!"
Jimmy and Jessie looked at each other. If they hadn't changed the route, they would be dead.
"How'd you know where we were supposed to be?" Jessie demanded.
"We've been hanging around camp for days, catching fragments of conversation. We found out you're splitting up. This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of you. Divide you and finish you off."
"Didn't really work, did it?" Angie mumbled.
"Yes it did," said the tallest of the men, the one who hadn't spoken so far. "Your brother is dead. Him and his blonde girlfriend."
Jimmy ached to pull the trigger, but, just as if sensing it, Jessie pushed his hand down. She frowned, a muscle twitched in her jaw as she glared at the three.
"You lying sack of trash!" Jerry yelled. "Kyle's fine."
"Jerry, calm down," Jimmy said, passing his gun to Jessie.
"I can't calm down," Jerry said, his voice shaking slightly. "I never got to apologize for being so awful to him. We're not on speaking terms."
"We have no time for this now," Jimmy replied. "We have to get to Snitch Gravel's base and bust Kyle and Kay out of there. And these three are going to show us the fasted way there." He turned around, and almost jumped back.
Angie was right behind him, beet red, fists clenched, seeming ready to combust. "I'll be damned if I'll lose more people I care about!" she said and rushed to camp.
"Let's go pack up, get the trash out of the pit and go," Jimmy said. Angie was right. There was no way in hell he'd stand by while Kyle was in danger.
🌴🌴🌴
Ah, here we are. Is everyone excited for the climax? Because you can already tell it's about to get nasty.
So, here you sort of get an answer why Kyle is different. It's going to be explored the further into the series we go, but we have our first clue.
We also have this mystery guy who is...who the hell is he?
Also... anyone tired of Jimmy and Jessie flirting yet? They should just get together already.
Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and comment!